In Hilary Mantel's representation of More in Wolf Hall, the man comes across as a sadistic hypocrite; if his brutal torture of so-called heretics, he would make the so-called "enhanced interrogation" at GITMO look like a day at the spa. So, where is the truth?
Martyrdom covereth a multitude of sins. The religious wars brought out the worst in many people. The confusion of theology with faith is pernicious. As Thomas à Kempis said, better to feel compunction than define it.
To my knowledge, no one in the 16th century objected, on humanitarian grounds, to torturing or burning heretics. Everyone agreed that heretics were fair game – they simply disagreed on who the heretics were.
This is by no means a defense, but rather suggesting we view people within the context of their times. (Just as there is no point in going through Shakespeare to see if he was a "feminist.")
Second, our notion of Thomas More is strongly shaped by Robert Bolt's magnificent play, and later movie, "A Man for All Seasons." Bolt was an agnostic/atheist, and said he wrote More as a hero of selfhood, which was the way he could get a handle on him. Though Bolt obviously didn't hide More's religion, he shifted the focus somewhat – for example, during the meeting with Margaret in the storm at night, where they discuss the King's new oath.
So we have to rescue the historical More not only from Hilary Mantel but, less willingly in my case (for I fell pretty hard as a girl for Bolt's More), from Robert Bolt, too.
Again, that's where I turn to the comments of his contemporaries, and the shock across Europe when More was imprisoned, and then executed. I think we can pretty much date Henry VIII's sharp psychological decline from the decision to execute More and Fisher, against his own conscience, and to throw out the noble, loyal, and virtuous woman who single-handedly brought the Renaissance to England. In the next decade, the last of his life, he went through five more wives, two of them executed on his orders.
In Hilary Mantel's representation of More in Wolf Hall, the man comes across as a sadistic hypocrite; if his brutal torture of so-called heretics, he would make the so-called "enhanced interrogation" at GITMO look like a day at the spa. So, where is the truth?
ReplyDeleteMartyrdom covereth a multitude of sins. The religious wars brought out the worst in many people. The confusion of theology with faith is pernicious. As Thomas à Kempis said, better to feel compunction than define it.
DeleteAlso, Hilary Mantel has an ax to grind.
ReplyDeleteAx to grind? Now that is funny! Well done.
ReplyDeleteI thought you'd like that. BTW, More himself denied the torture charges.
ReplyDeleteTo my knowledge, no one in the 16th century objected, on humanitarian grounds, to torturing or burning heretics. Everyone agreed that heretics were fair game – they simply disagreed on who the heretics were.
ReplyDeleteThis is by no means a defense, but rather suggesting we view people within the context of their times. (Just as there is no point in going through Shakespeare to see if he was a "feminist.")
Second, our notion of Thomas More is strongly shaped by Robert Bolt's magnificent play, and later movie, "A Man for All Seasons." Bolt was an agnostic/atheist, and said he wrote More as a hero of selfhood, which was the way he could get a handle on him. Though Bolt obviously didn't hide More's religion, he shifted the focus somewhat – for example, during the meeting with Margaret in the storm at night, where they discuss the King's new oath.
So we have to rescue the historical More not only from Hilary Mantel but, less willingly in my case (for I fell pretty hard as a girl for Bolt's More), from Robert Bolt, too.
Again, that's where I turn to the comments of his contemporaries, and the shock across Europe when More was imprisoned, and then executed. I think we can pretty much date Henry VIII's sharp psychological decline from the decision to execute More and Fisher, against his own conscience, and to throw out the noble, loyal, and virtuous woman who single-handedly brought the Renaissance to England. In the next decade, the last of his life, he went through five more wives, two of them executed on his orders.
(And I might add the sixth wife very narrowly avoided execution for heresy, and survived him instead.)
ReplyDelete